Walking toy animal



y 26,1931- JfM. DANKO ET AL 8 7,39

WALKING TOY ANIMAL Filed March 21, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 26, 1931. J. M. DANKO ET AL WALKING TOY ANIIAL Filed March 21, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 J/Z. i Fania. Min, Mia 4 May 26, 1931. J. M. DANKO ET AL 1,807,391

' WALKING TOY ANIMAL Filed March 21. 1930 4 Sheets-Shet s May 26, 1931.

.1. M. DANKO ET AL I WALKINGTOY ANIMAL Filed March 21, 1930 4 SheetsSheet 4 /m 27170715 Jpn flair/T0, JM 145474 4 Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES JOHN M. DANKO AND JOHN KA SARDA, OF FREELAND, PENNSYLVANIA WALKING 'roY ANIMAL Application filed March 21, 1930. Serial No. 437,710.

starting and stopping'the Walking move ments by pulling upon the head of the animal to give it an upward tilt either through the medium of a pair of reins or otherwise.

A still further object of the invention is to provide for the regulation of the speed at which the toy animal may walka WVith these and other ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claims. I

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how' to make and use the same, we will describe its construction in detail referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, in which Fig. 1 is a view of atoy in a form of a horse having our improvements applied thereto, the figure being partly broken away .to illustrate the manner of pivoting, the head of the body so that it may have an upwardtilting movement.

Fig. 2 is a rear viewof the mechanism for causing the toy to walk, the enclosing body of the toy being omitted; the mechanism being shown in the tilted position whichit will assume when the leg levers upon one side are I in their lowest position and the leg levers 40 upon the opposite side on their highest position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the bodying our invention.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of Fig. 3, showing 45 the leg levers in a neutral position.

' Fig. 5 is a view similar. to Fig. 4, the driving mechanism being omitted and showing the leg levers in the position'they assume when mechanism emthe crank discs have been revolved 90 from the positions shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing the leg levers in the position they assume when the crank discs have been revolved 90 from the positions shown in Fig. 5. i

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing 1 the leg levers in the positions assumed when the crank discs have been revolved 90 from the positions shown in Fig. 6. i

Fig. 8 is a rear view similar to Fig. 2 showing the leg levers in their neutral positions.

In carrying out our invention as herein embodied, 10 represents a toy here shown in the form of a horse but which may be the figure of any other animal and in the body thereof is enclosed and properly secured the rectangular frame 11. In this frame is journalled the shaft 12 having secured thereon the ratchet wheel 13 with which engages the spring actuated pawl 14, said pawl being suitably pivoted to one of the side bars of the frame.

Upon the shaft 12 is also secured the tooth Winding wheel 15 with which the pinion 16 meshes, said pinion being secured upon the key shaft 17 terminating in a suitable key hole for the application of a key for revolving said pinion.

18 represents a spring drum revolvably mounted upon the shaft 12 andcontaining the usual coil or clock spring, which in practice has one end secured to the shaft and the other end to the periphery of the drum the spring and its. connections not being shown as they are of'well-known construction. V I

The drum 18 has secured thereto a large gear wheel 19 which latter meshes with the pinion 20 and said pinion is secured upon the shaft 21, said shaft also having secured thereon the gear wheel22. The shaft 20 is likewise journalled in the side bars of the frame.

23 is a shaft similar to the shaft 21 and also journalled' in the side bars of the frame and has secured thereon the pinion 24 which meshes with the gear wheel 22. The shaft 23 also has secured thereon'a gear wheel 25 which meshes with the idle gear 26, the latter being journalled upon a stud 27 secured in one of the side bars of the frame.

28 represents another shaft journalled in the side bars of the frame and having secured thereon the gear wheel 29 with which meshes the idle wheel 26 and this shaft 28 also has secured thereon the gear wheel 30 which meshes with the pinion 31 secured upon the governor shaft 32, the last named shaft also being journalled on the side bars of the frame.

33 represents the governor springs, one end of each of which is secured to the hub of the pinion 31 as indicated at 34 while on the opposite ends are secured the sleeve 35, said sleeve being mounted upon the governor shaft 32 so as to slide longitudinally thereon and'this sleeve carries a disc 36 for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

From the foregoing description of the train of gears over the spring drum to the governor shaft, it will be seen that when the drum is revolved, the governor will also be revolved and the disc drawn inward as the springs 33 are forced outward by the centrifugal action of the weights 37 secured to said springs and the faster the gear is revolved the greater will be the distention. of the springs and consequently the greater inward movement of the disc 36, thus providin for the regulation of the speed of the train of gears.

38 represents a lever journalled in a bracket 39 projecting from the front end of the frame and this lever has secured to its outer end a friction block 40 adapted to bear against the disc 36 to retard the speed of said disc and thus modify the speed of the train of gears and a pull lever 41 is secured to the lever 38 and is actuated in one direction by the coil springs 42 to swing the lever 38 in the direction for carrying the friction block 40 into contact with said disc.

The pull lever 41 is attached to the lever 43 by means of one spring 44 and the lever 43 is secured to the hinge pintle 46 passed through the hinge discs by which means the head of the horse is pivoted to the body thereof.

The effect of this arrangement is that when the head of the horse is lowered, the lever 38 is permitted to swing outward carrying the friction block 40 into contact with the disc 36 butwhen the head of the horse is tilted upward upon the pintle 46, the friction block is drawn away from said disc and to the extent that the head of the horse is tilted upward, the speed of the train of gears will be increased as will be readily understood.

On the outer ends of the shaft 23 are secured the crank discs 47, each having a wrist pin 48 and to each of these wrist pins is pi-voted a lever 49, each of said levers having a slot 50 therein through which passes a screw or headed stud 51 projecting from the side bars of the frame,

52 represents a rear pair of leg levers slotted at their upper ends as indicated at 53 and through these slots pass the headed studs or screws 54 projecting from the lugs 55 formed with the side bars of the frame. Each of the levers 49 is pivoted as at 56 to one of the leg levers 52 so that the movements of the levers 49 bring about the proper movements of the leg levers and it is to be noted that the wrist pins 48 are set at 180 apart so that the movements of the leg levers upon the opposite side of the frame are reversed to each other, that is to say, that when the leg lever upon the right hand side of the machine is moved forward, the leg lever upon the opposite side of the machine is moved rearward and likewise when one of these leg levers is being elevated or lowered, the opposite leg lever is being lowered or elevated, thus it will be seen that as the crank discs 49 are revolved in unison in the direction of the arrow, starting from the position shown in Fig. 5, the right hand leg lever will be forced rearward and gradually raised, and assuming that the lower ends of these levers are in contact with the ground, this will move the frame forward and as this log lever '7 'a dually raised, the frame will tilt toward the right-hand side keeping the lower end of the leg lever in contact with the ground until the lower end of the left-hand lever comes to the position shown in Fig. 6 when the further revolving of the right-hand disc to the position shown in Fig. 7 will have raised the right hand leg lever and started to move it forward. During which operations, the left hand leg lever will have taken the weight of the frame and duplicated the movements just described in connection with the right hand leg lever bringing about a walking movement.

The shaft 28 has secured on its outer ends the crank discs 57 carrying the wrist pins 58 to which are pivoted the actuating levers 59, said levers having the slots 60 therein through which pass the headed studs or screws 61 projecting from the sides of the frame andthese actuating levers are pivoted as at 62 to the front leg levers 63, said last named levers being duplicates of the rear leg levers and having the slots 64 therein through which pass the headed studs or screws 65 projeeting from the lugs 66 carried by the frame. As in the case of the wrist pins 48, the wrist pins 58 are set at 180 apart so as to give each of the leg levers 63 opposite movements relative to each other.

The wrist pins 48 and 58 on each side of the frame are set at 90 to each other, the wrist pins upon the opposite side of the machine being likewise set at 90 apart from each other and this will bring about the movements of the rear leg levers and the front leg levers at times relative to each other corre sponding to the difference of 90 whereby the leg levers in their movements will resemble the movements of a four-legged animal in walking.

The frame as before stated is mounted in the body of the horse and the legs of the horse are secured over the leg levers and the upper portions of the legs of the horse are free to move up and down within the body so as to follow the movements of the leg levers as will be readily understood.

While the legs of the horse may be secured to the leg levers in any suitable manner, this is here accomplished by the pins 68 passing through the lower portions of the legs of the horse and said leg levers.

The progressive forward movement of the toy will cause it to sway from side to side in imitation of the walking of a four-legged animal and this swaying facilitates the operations of the device.

In practice, a pair of reins 69 are attached to the mouth of the horse so that by pulling upon these reins the head of the horse may be swung upward, which as before described, will release the friction block 40 from the disc 36 and thus permit the motor to drive the train of gears causing the horse to walk forward and the releasing of the pull upon the reins will again apply the friction block to the disc, and thus stop the revolving of the train of gears and bring the horse to a standstill. Further, it is to be noted that the head of the horse is elevated and the friction block 40 will be removed from the disc 36, thus further increasing the speed of the train of gears by permitting the governor to revolve at a high rate of speed at any position to which the friction block 40 is drawn inward, but the centrifugal action of the governor will determine the limit of the speed of the train of gears, thus preventing the motor from racing.

While this device is primarily intended for toys in which case the reins 69 will be of sufficient length to permit the person driving the horse to remain in the rear thereof and control the movements by the proper manip- Having thus fully described our invention,

what we claim as new and useful is 1. A mechanical toy comprising the figure of a four-legged animal, the legs of which are free to swing and be raised and lowered, the head of which is pivoted to the body so as to be swung up and down, a train of gears positioned within the body, a. motor for drivin g said gears, crank discs revolvable by said gears, operating levers pivoted to said crank discs, said levers being so mounted as to receive a four-way motion from the crank discs, leg levers to which said operating levers are pivoted, said leg levers being slidably pivoted so as to follow the motions of the operating levers, a centrifugal governor for regulating the speed of the train of gears, and means connected with the head of the figure for starting and stopping said train of gears.

2. In a device of the character described, a frame, a motor mounted upon said frame, a

train of gears operated by said motor, crank discs secured to the outer ends of two of the shafts of said train of gears, leg levers slidably pivoted to the frame, operating levers pivoted to the crank discs and to the leg levers in such manner as to give to the leg levers a four-way movement, a figure of a fourlegged animal in which said frame is mounted, legs independent from the animal secured to the leg levers so as to move therewith, a head pivoted to the body of the figure of the animal, a regulating mechanism for controlling the revolving of the train of gears, said regulating mechanism being connected with said head in such manner that the raising and lowering of the head will start or stop the train of gears.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto affixed our signatures.

JNO. KASARDA. JOHN M. DANKO.

ulation of said reins, yet it is obvious that the device may be used for small children to ride upon the back of the horse by providing suflicient strength to the motorin which case the reins would be only of sufiicient length to permit the child to manipulate the same while seated upon the back of the horse.

In practice, this device provides a highly interesting, amusing and instructive toy which any child can readily manipulate by the simple act of pulling upon the rein either to start or stop the same or to regulate the speed thereof. 7

Of course we do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein 

